Birthday
by Solosorca
Summary: Ryoma didn't like that his birthday was on Christmas Eve. In America it meant that his Christmas presents were combined with his birthday ones and in Japan it was a romantic day for couples. No matter where he was, his birthday was overshadowed.


**Written for Ryoma's birthday.**

Ryoma didn't like that his birthday was on Christmas Eve. In America it meant that his Christmas presents were combined with his birthday ones and in Japan it was a romantic day for couples. No matter where he was, his birthday was overshadowed. He was glad he wasn't like Fuji and only had a birthday once every four years, but at least Fuji's birthday didn't coincide with a major event, it just didn't happen very often.

This year, the year of his 15th birthday, he'd decided to spend the Christmas holidays in Japan. Mostly because Tezuka was spending the holidays in Japan and, seeing as they could only see each other during holidays, it made sense to go to Japan.

Except, Tezuka had come home to study for exams, both for his exams in Germany and for university entrance exams in Japan.

"Why do you even need to apply to a university?" Ryoma asked as he stretched out on Tezuka's bed, where he spent most of his days this holiday. "You even went pro last year!"

Tezuka was silent as he continued to diligently study. Ryoma turned his head to look at him, at his back. It was definitely the back of a reliable man. Strong and sturdy.

"You should apply to a university in Florida," Ryoma continued, "and get a coach there, then we could live together."

He knew it was never going to happen, but he could hold out a bit of hope. Even if Tezuka went to university somewhere in America it would make their relationship a bit easier. He knew he was applying to a couple in America and one in England (which wouldn't be any better than Germany as far as Ryoma was concerned), but he was mainly looking to go to university in Japan.

Soon, they were going to have to figure out a way to keep their relationship going with one of them in university.

But, it was Christmas soon and, more importantly, Ryoma's birthday.

"What are we going to do on Christmas Eve?" Ryoma asked. "Please don't tell me you're planning to study on my birthday!"

"I'm not," Tezuka reassure him, "I made sure to set that day aside for you."

"You have a revision timetable, don't you?"

"There is nothing wrong with being organised," Tezuka said.

"You're such a nerd!"

"You're in your school choir," Tezuka said. His voice was completely unaccusatory, but Ryoma could tell he was getting at something.

"Only because we're forced to join an art club and I'm not learning to draw or play an instrument," Ryoma huffed, "Kevin will be singing in the carol service tonight," he added, smirking at the thought. Ryoma had managed to escape school a few days early and was missing singing in the choir's Christmas concert, something Kevin Smith had not been able to do.

"You have a lovely singing voice," Tezuka said.

"No I don't," Ryoma replied, "you just want me to sing for you."

"It would help me revise quicker."

Ryoma sighed deeply, "they'll be in English."

"I'm perfectly fine with English," Tezuka said.

"You're just perfect," Ryoma muttered, "okay, what do you want me to sing?"

"I don't mind," Tezuka replied, "sing whatever you want to sing."

"I don't remember a lot of the words of things," Ryoma warned, which was only half true. He knew the words to plenty of carols, having had all the verses beaten into him whilst he was growing up in America, but there were also a lot of songs where he only knew the first verse or so.

He started with 'In the Bleak Midwinter' because it was easy to sing. He only knew the first and last verses as that was all he'd ever been taught. He liked the images the first verse conjured, of a forest covered in snow.

"The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown," he sung next, "Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown. Oh, the rising of the sun and the running of the deer, The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir." He couldn't remember the exact way the other verses went and what the various parts of the holly represented, but he managed to hum and mumble his way through it all, only sounding confident in the chorus.

Deck The Halls was next, a song he knew all of due to the 12 lines, excluding Fa la la la la la la la la's. It was easy and quite fun to sing, not that Ryoma would ever admit to having fun singing Christmas carols. Somewhere around the 'Strike the harp and join the chorus', Tezuka joined in singing the Fa la la la la la la la la's.

"You're supposed to be studying," Ryoma scolded him once they'd finished the song.

"I can study and sing at the same time," Tezuka assured him.

Ryoma paused for a second and then started to sing Silent Night and then, to his surprise, Tezuka joined in in German, his deep voice merging perfectly with Ryoma's. Maybe they would become pop stars if their tennis careers fell through.

When the last note died away, Ryoma couldn't help smiling.

A few days before his birthday, it started to snow heavily, much to Ryoma's disgust. He'd wanted to play tennis outside with Tezuka.

He was woken by Nanako, whose flat he was staying in, on the morning of his birthday.

"Happy birthday!" she said cheerily as he tried to get him out of bed and Ryoma refused, trying to bury himself deeply in the covers. "You have a visitor," she said, "I invited him in for breakfast."

Ryoma groaned and pushed himself up and out of bed, just because he was hoping it would be Tezuka didn't mean it wouldn't be Fuji turning up nice and early to tease him before he went to school.

Thankfully, it was Tezuka, sat at the table, his back ramrod straight.

"Mornin'," Ryoma said, yawning as he sat down opposite Tezuka.

"Good morning," Tezuka said, "Happy birthday."

"Thanks," Ryoma said, picking up his chopsticks and starting to eat. "You can start too," he told Tezuka.

"Shouldn't we wait for your cousin?"

Ryoma shrugged, "it'll be fine."

Nanako appeared back at the table a few seconds later though and told Tezuka to start eating as she put a small pile of presents in front of Ryoma.

"Your mum and dad sent these over," she said as she too sat down.

Ryoma ignored the presents until he'd finished eating. Inside them was the usual lot of tennis supplies and video games.

"I'll leave you boys to it," Nanko said once they'd all finished eating, "don't get him into too much trouble," she told Tezuka who looked adorable shocked at the mere thought that he would be the one getting them into trouble.

"He won't," Ryoma said, getting up and grabbing Tezuka's hand and pulling him to his bedroom.

"Does she know about us?" Tezuka asked when Ryoma shut the door behind them.

"Dunno," Ryoma shrugged, "don't care." He pushed Tezuka towards the bed, "I haven't kissed you yet. We've been together in Japan for days and I haven't kissed you once." Tezuka had been too busy studying to kiss.

"You have me for the whole day," Tezuka said as Ryoma pushed him down to sit on the bed and then straddled his legs.

"Good," Ryoma said and leaned in to press their lips together for the first time in months.

The kiss started out soft and exploratory as they reacquainted their lips with each other and refound their rhythm. Then, Ryoma's fingers were tangled in Tezuka's hair and Tezuka's hands were running up and down Ryoma's back as their tongues slid against each other.

"I've missed you," Tezuka said when they broke apart, "I love you."

"I love you too," Ryoma said, resting their foreheads together, "I'm glad you're not studying today."

Tezuka cupped Ryoma's cheek, "so am I," he agreed, kissing the tip of Ryoma's nose.

"What's the plan for today?" Ryoma asked, "make out of a bit then tennis then come back here and make out again?"

"The first two points are correct," Tezuka said and Ryoma grinned, "I think we're both as keen as each other when it comes to both of them."

"I definitely am," Ryoma agreed, his grin growing, "you know me so well."

"And then, tonight, I thought we could go into town," Tezuka said, "see the lights and get something to eat."

"Like chicken nuggets?"

"If you want," Tezuka said. "It might be hard to find roast turkey."

They spent the rest of the morning in Ryoma's room, wrapped in each other's arms, kissing and talking.

Afterwards, Tezuka took Ryoma to a nearby indoor tennis court where he'd booked a court. He needn't have bothered as they were the only people there other than the receptionist.

They played for hours on end, stopping only to get some food from a nearby vending machine and eating it side by side on the court. They both kept the score in their heads, but neither of them mentioned it, the game was more important than the score for both of them.

"Let's sneak into the member's showers," Ryoma said once they'd played till their limbs were starting to become sore. If they were going to have a date tonight, there was no sense pushing it.

"No, Ryoma," Tezuka said, "We didn't pay for them."

"There is literally no one here," Ryoma argued, "if anyone comes we can tell them that I can't read Japanese," he said in perfect English.

"The sign's in Japanese and English," Tezuka pointed out as they walked past the member's locker room.

"Come on, break the rules for once!" Ryoma said, grabbing Tezuka's hand and pulling him towards the door. It was locked.

"The showers in the normal locker room will be fine," Tezuka told him, squeezing Ryoma's hand.

The showers in the locker room were perfectly fine for showering and Tezuka made it abundantly clear that they wouldn't be doing anything but showering in them. Ryoma didn't mind too much, he wasn't going to force Tezuka into anything, but still…. it would have been nice.

Ryoma had wanted to go to a nearby fast food restaurant for lunch, but Tezuka had insisted on taking him to a small, out of the way, coffee shop and then insisted on paying for everything. Ryoma was hardly against the idea of free food, so put up no resistance.

They didn't really talk over lunch other that a quick discussion about what they were going to do next.

It seemed Tezuka had the whole day planned out in his head, so Ryoma went along with what he had suggested. It wasn't like Ryoma had any idea beyond hanging out with Tezuka.

After lunch, they meandered back to Nanako's flat via the shops. Neither of them needed anything, but going into any sports shops they walked past had become something of a tradition for them and you never could tell what you might find.

Ryoma found his favourite brand of grip tape on sale and left the shop happily holding the paper bag with his purchase in. Tezuka had wanted to pay for it, but Ryoma had turned him down saying that he didn't want half price grip tape for his birthday present.

"I have a birthday present for you already," Tezuka had told him and his ears had pricked up, " which you'll be getting later."

"It's not you in a maids outfit, is it?" Ryoma had asked before he could help himself and Tezuka had frowned at him. Ryoma had rushed off to pay for his grip tape before he could make any more comments that sounded like they'd come from his father.

Nanako had work, so the flat was empty when they got there.

"Want to make out?" Ryoma asked as he threw the grip tape into the corner of his room where his suitcase was spilling its contents.

"You are incorrigible," Tezuka replied fondly, sitting down on Ryoma's bed and soon had a lap full of boyfriend.

"I try my best," Ryoma smirked.

They didn't talk much after that.

Later, much later, they emerged from Ryoma's room, their hair and clothes meticulously neat and any evidence of what they'd been doing cleaned away.

"It's going to be so cold outside," Ryoma whined as they pulled on their coats, hats and gloves.

"It is," Tezuka agreed, tweaking the little ears on Ryoma's new hat (a joint gift from Fuji and Kikumaru) fondly. "We don't have to stay out for long."

"You just want to see the lights with me," Ryoma said.

"I do," Tezuka agreed.

It was very cold outside and Ryoma wished they could cuddle close for warmth, that would be a good birthday present. The centre of town was all aglow with lights and full of people, Ryoma slipped his hand into Tezuka's so they didn't get separated in the crowd.

"They're nice," Ryoma said as they admired the lights and Tezuka nodded in agreement. "But there are too many people."

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Tezuka asked, pointing at a crepe van at the edge of the crowd.

"Yes please," Ryoma replied.

Tezuka left him on a bench and went to join the queue. Ryoma hunched up against the cold and wished that they were back at Nanako's flat. He was enjoying being out with Tezuka and the lights were pretty, but he didn't like being in large crowds or being cold.

"Echizen!" Someone cried and Ryoma looked around to see someone he only vaguely recognised as a guy he'd played tennis against once dragging along Ryuuzaki's granddaughter. He tried to remember her name, couldn't, and gave up. Tezuka would know, but Tezuka was currently in a queue for crepes and unable to come to Ryoma's aid.

"Hi," Ryoma said, trying desperately to remember the tennis match he'd played against this guy.

"I didn't expect to see you here!" The guy said excitedly.

"I'm having a date," Ryoma said.

"Oh, really?" the guy said and Ryoma remembered he was from Rokkaku.

"Yeah, Tezuka's buying me food," Ryoma said, pointing at Tezuka in the queue. "Are you having a date?" he asked, wanting to move away from his private life. He never hid that he was dating Tezuka, but he didn't really like talking about it to people he barely knew.

Ryuzaki's granddaughter turned bright red at the question and said, very quietly, "yes. Aoi came all the way from Chiba."

Ryoma nodded, at last having Aoi's name. At that point, Tezuka came back, holding two crepes. He gave one to Ryoma and nodded at Aoi and Ryuzaki.

"How long are you here for?" Aoi asked Ryoma, "we could have a match!"

"A couple more weeks," Ryoma said, almost smirking when Tezuka's expression darkened slightly, obviously thinking about Aoi stealing Ryoma away from their date to play tennis. "I'm helping Tezuka study, but I guess we could play at some point."

Aoi lit up at that and Tezuka took the opportunity to ask how Ryuzaki was and ask after her grandmother.

"I'm fine, thank you," Ryuzaki replied, "Granny is fine as well. Did you hear that this year's team got into the national finals."

Tezuka nodded and Ryoma was wondered how he'd found out, Ryoma hadn't kept up with any Seigaku team without his friends in. "They played their best," Tezuka said, "I understand that next year's team look very strong as well."

Ryuzaki nodded and asked after the old regulars and Tezuka gave her a quick run down about what everyone was doing.

"He stole me away tonight," Ryoma said, pointing at Tezuka, "the others wanted to have a party, but they had to postpone it."

Tezuka shot him a look and Ryoma smiled up innocently at him. Tezuka then carried on talking about Inui's university plans as if Ryoma hadn't spoken.

Things were starting to get a bit awkward after that, both Ryoma and, it seemed, Ryuzaki wanted to get going and carry on their respective dates.

"Aoi," Ryuzaki said at a pause in the conversation, "should we get something to eat?"

"Yes!" Aoi agreed, catching sight of Ryoma's crepe, "should we get crepes?"

Ryuzaki looked at the queue, which had increased substantially since Tezuka had been in it and nodded, "yes, we should."

"It was nice to meet them," Tezuka said after the couple had left.

"Yeah," Ryoma agreed non-committally, in all honestly, he was just glad to have Tezuka back and to himself. "Do I get my present now?" he asked.

"We should go somewhere warmer," Tezuka said, "and more private."

"That kind of present, is it?" Ryoma asked, cheekily.

"No," Tezuka replied, "but I think you'll like it."

Just then, Ryoma's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the message. "Nanako's at her boyfriend's tonight," he informed Tezuka, "looks like we have her flat to ourselves."

Tezuka nodded, "have you finished looking at the lights?"

"Yeah," Ryoma said, "It's really cold out here."

Ryoma was practically bouncing by the time they got to the apartment, not that he let on to Tezuka that he was excited. But, well, Tezuka always bought him nice things and he'd been keeping Ryoma in suspense all day.

Once they were inside, Tezuka pulled an envelope out of his bag and handed it to Ryoma. It was heavy and jingled slightly when he shook it.

"Happy Birthday, Ryoma," He said.

"Thanks," Ryoma said as he opened the envelope. Inside was a card, and a set of keys.

Ryoma's immediate thought was that Tezuka had bought him a car, but realised that was stupid because he couldn't drive and the keys didn't look like car keys anyway. More like house keys.

"I've got a coach in Florida," Tezuka explained, "I'll be spending a lot of time in Florida over the next few months and then, once I graduate, I shall be moving there permanently."

It took Ryoma's brain a while to process this new information. "But you're applying in universities in Japan."

"I will be doing a correspondence course," Tezuka explained, "the flat I have in Florida is small, but it only a thirty minute drive from your school."

"Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Not exactly, you're still in school," Tezuka reminded him, "we'll have to be careful for a couple of years, but we will be able to see each other a lot more."

"Do I have my own room in your small flat?" Ryoma asked, smirking. This was, quite frankly, the best birthday present he'd ever been given other than the tennis racquet he'd got when he was 10.

"Yes," Tezuka replied, "but I would prefer it if you slept with me."

Ryoma grinned, "good, because not even you could make me sleep in the spare room.


End file.
